Building a more resilient community food sector: How can we make the case for community food work?

On 3^rd December we ran our second community food online peer session. The session aimed to provide an informal non-judgemental networking and discussion space for people working within the community food sector and those supporting them.

During the introduction we covered some of the issues that we heard as part of our stakeholder engagement findings last year and discussed issues around how we can make the case for the community food sector. This included:

• Challenges around funding and evidence: Issues with core funding, sustainability and measuring impact can be difficult.
• Good evaluation is important and may help tell your story – but this also needs to be proportionate and useful.
• Note that organisations such as Evaluation Support Scotland have some useful resources for the community and voluntary sector. www.evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk

More information about our stakeholder engagement findings can be found on the Public Health Scotland website.

The online session split into three breakout groups so those attending could discuss issues with their peers. Here are some of the main points that were discussed.

Getting the message across to funders and others

• Food is often not considered a priority, yet it should be. It influences many other aspects of community wellbeing. Communicating this effectively to leaders and decision-makers remains a challenge.
• Understanding lived experience is both vital and powerful. Ensuring dignity through choice, access to nutritious food, and respect is essential for meaningful change
• It can be challenging to provide potential impact information for newer or innovative projects.
• For some, finding a funder or someone who will support your work is based on whether they have an understanding of your work, particularly if it’s a bit ‘niche’– ‘some people get it, other’s don’t’.

Types of evidence and evaluation

Peer session attendees had mixed experiences of what had helped convince funders and others about the value of their community food work. Their experiences included:

• Providing anecdotal information, case studies and story telling had been helpful.
• Being creative can help – such as presenting real stories or inviting policy makers/funders to attend an activity.
• Some funders just require top-line data and are less interested in qualitative information, such as the positive impact that community food activities have on small numbers of individuals, or demonstrating the complexity and impact of wrap around support.
• Gathering longer term impact information can be difficult, but is expected.
• Observing and ‘catching the chatter’ of participants attending food activities can be a useful way of measuring impact.
• The Place Standard Tool encourages ‘walkabouts’ where photos are taken of local areas – this can make the case better than reports or written information.

Other issues to consider

• There is duplication of efforts across organisations, which highlights the need for greater collaboration.
• Aligning outcomes to local plans of national policies can be helpful.
• Many organisations apply to multiple funders – it’s important to consider your mission statement or values – don’t pull away from this – say no to work that doesn’t fit your values.

We’re planning to run more online peer sessions in 2026.